Whoa, things are so bad in the upstate town of Schenectady [the 9th largest city in NY] that the mayor is thinking about declaring martial law. Who says North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Il can’t teach us anything?

Mayor Brian Stratton might have good reason because in a tiny police force, five of cops have been arrested recently for drunken driving and assault. Stratton says he’s thinking about disbanding the police department and starting from scratch.

One option is to ask the governor to declare martial law, which means bringing in soldiers to patrol the streets of the sleepy little town.

“If you abolish the police department you still have a need — not an obligation — but a need to police the community,” Schenectady’s Corporation Counsel John Van Norden told Capital News 9. [more]

Follow the link to read some fascinating comments like:

Have you ever been to Schenectady? Not every place north of the Bronx is a “sleepy little town,” and this situation is no joke. Schenectady is an urban hell hole, with drugs, homicides, gangs, deep poverty and a completely corrupt police force. The mayor needs to start law enforcement from scratch, and this is his way of doing it.Posted by: Upstater at March 24, 2009 12:11 PM

Sleepy town? You guys in the “Village” must live inside a power plant. We are decidedly not “sleepy.” Yikes, there’s been a handful of fights on our block, and it’s not even warm weather yet. Whatever the solution about our very longstanding cultural problems with our department (and many others around New York, I suspect), one thing’s for certain: we need more (and better) police coverage, not less.Posted by: Julie Moran at March 24, 2009 5:22 PM